Those round holes on the large wall are actually for the sconces. I was concerned that two mirrors would be cramped. One large mirror with a sconce on each side won't work?

Since it's a niche, I would do wall-to-wall, counter-to-moulding mirror with the scoces poking through because in this application the mirror has no "edges".

But two Queen Anne Style mirrors would work because they are tall and skinny.
{{gwi:1415304}}

It looks like you have placed the sconces rather close to the side walls. There won't be space for a framed mirror. It looks like a perfect setup for a simple, beveled mirror going wall-to-wall with sconces mounted on top of the mirror. Make sure your sconces accomodate at LEAST 60watts each. Visual Comfor has some lovely, traditional ones which should be perfect with your chandelier.

[Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Los Angeles Media And Blogs Kara Weik

My thoughts:
1) the sconce rough-ins could be moved to accommodate what you want in a mirror.
2) Palimpsest has a nice idea with the wall to wall mirror and the lights coming through the mirror. OR, 2 mirrors with a framed design similar to the one shown. I would add scones on the inside of the mirrors too, for a total of 4, for lighting and symmetry.
3) If wall to wall mirror, then 3 sconces would probably fit that space, providing adequate lighting for faces at the sink.

I love the mirror that Palimpsest posted.

Can you, from my image and drawing, determine that adding sconces on the inner area won't be too much of a squeeze? And, if we move the outer sconces over a little to accommodate for mirrors with frames, will those sconces, or the frames of the mirrors, be in the line of site of either of us as we stand at the sink?

Palimpsest, where is that mirror from?

Thanks everyone :)

Can you, from my image and drawing, determine that adding sconces on the inner area won't be too much of a squeeze? And, if we move the outer sconces over a little to accommodate for mirrors with frames, will those sconces, or the frames of the mirrors, be in the line of site of either of us as we stand at the sink?

Palimpsest, where is that mirror from?

You have an architect, right? Doesn't this sort of thing fall to them to determine placement and tolerances?

I'm just a DIYer, and I figure this stuff out on paper and in real life by taping things to the wall, painting designs on the wall, etc. Not everyone's cup of tea. I drew all my kitchen cabinets on my walls with a sharpie before we took the walls out, just so I could get a real life view of my plan drawings.

I was on the fence with a similar situation. I went with the large mirror with inset sconces and I love it. It reallly opened up the room.

That said, I like your vanity and chandy and I like Pal's mirror with it. Certainly worthy of a mock up-use cardboard or red rosin paper cut outs and put them on the wall to get an idea of what it will look like.

This post was edited by sparklebread on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 21:29

Our architect is not involved in anything like this for our project so these decisions rest on us entirely.

I found Palimpsest's mirror as a single item on 1stdibs, so it's not an option.

I'd recommend two framed mirrors and adding a center sconce.

If the side sconces were going to be single-shade or single-bulb fixtures, then I'd recommend the center sconce being a two-shade fixture to fill the center space.

As others have mentioned, different mirror shapes can certainly affect how the wall space will be filled, from a tall narrow mirror that was previously linked to, to an arch-top with scalloped cutouts to almost blend around the sconces. Not this exact one, but along the lines of this shape:

{{gwi:1415306}}

Look over on Hoboken's bathroom thread started recently. There you will see how Kateskouros did the vanity and mirrors. The vanity looks as if it is fit between 2 walls like yours. The feel is like your style.

Thanks everyone. Enduring, kateskouros' bathroom is stunning!

Also circa lighting has a number of sconces with a small backplate and using a switch box for the mounting plate. The standard 5" mounting box is likely too big for your vanity based on what I have seen - the mirrors may look dinky.

If you pick a different sconce with a small rectangular backplate you will pick up a few inches. . .

I would do at least 24" wide on your mirrors above the vanity plus 2 or 3 inches between the edge of the mirror and the sconce.

Mounting the sconces on the mirror can look beautiful and is something I see in magazines quite a lot. We copied a Amy Morris mirror for our vanities with sconces mounted on the mirror and the mirror pieced together (not one large mirror). We love it. We used Hudson Valley Lighting sconces in there and love them also.

I would also probably do 3 sconces. Look at Mrs. Howard website on her projects for ideas. She often uses a sconce on either end of a long vanity and a sconce in between.

Thanks, Athensmom. I'll have to check if it's possible to add a sconce between the two we already have.

Here is an updated photo with the plaster moulding installed:

We did two sconces through our mirror⦠itâÂÂs a look I happen to love, but also worked for us because our room is very narrow. It made a huge difference in how open it felt⦠I also really like the extra reflected light, since our window is on the other side of the room.

Your vanity is gorgeous! CanâÂÂt wait to see the end result!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our finished bath.

Sorry to ask an unrelated question, but where did you get your vanity? It is exactly what I am looking for for our master bath remodel. Do you happen to know the brand and size? Thanks!

Your moulding looks amazing!

As far as the sconces go, I don't see any other lighting around your vanity. I think you definitely need 3. I have two sconces and two can lights above my vanity and I don't think I really have enough light to put on my makeup. I had an extra wire looped in the wall and am about to break down and get a lighted vanity mirror for it. Might start with an unlighted one because they look better . . . .

I have also attached a great article from the Mrs. Howard blog about how to hang sconces - how many, what height, distance from mirror, etc. She also shows many pictures. Notice the longer vanity like yours has 3 sconces and also small extension mirrors on the sides. Wonder if they had a problem with light?

Here is a link that might be useful: How to hang sconces

Thanks, everyone.

Our vanity was custom made for us. I designed it and it's cherry with a medium brown stain and a "coffee" glaze. I love it. If you are interested, let me know and I will email you the company contact info--they made all our cabinetry and are talented and reasonable.

We have a large window in the bathroom sort of between the vanity area and the tub. There will be an overhead VC 18th cent chandelier in antique nickel not far from the vanity and it is centered between the sconces. I'm not sure which small scones match the chandelier. Opposite the vanity is an area with two sconces that I plan to put an piece of antique furniture between, so I think all the sconces in the room need to match.

I'm beginning to worry there isn't much room for two mirrors. I also can't find anything appropriate, but I'm very open to suggestions :)

Thanks, the moulding is plaster from Fischer and Jirouch. I really love it and think it makes the room. :)

Victoria, I love your bathroom.
Athens, do you have a photo of your "pieced" mirror?

I found some mirrors online that might work. I have no idea if they will work with our bathroom in terms of space or style. Do I need nickel/silver color if our fixtures in that room (minus the door knobs) are nickel?

I would not do nickel / silver mirrors. I think they will be too matchy and too contemporary.

Also, in my experience sconces really provide very little light - accent light mostly - if you use sconces with shades. Most of those that I looked at use a small wattage chandelier type bulb. They are mostly decorative.

If you have a sconce on one side of your mirror, you will have a shadow on the other side of your face. The chandelier behind you won't help much I don't think. You really need task lighting. I have a lot more light than you and find myself taking a hand mirror to the window sometimes to do detail things like plucking eyebrows, etc.

We do have can lights over the vanities but they are small ones (45 watts), and sconces (60 watts) so we do have enough light theoretically (150 watts total) but the mirror is shadowed by it which makes it hard.

You can have a mirror made at a frame shop if you need to. It will be just a rectangle but you will have infinite choices of colors.

The other option, which could be pretty, is a venetian style glass framed mirror. I trend towards the more simple, and these come in all types - from simple mirrored frames to ornate etched glass. We put one from Currey and company in our powder room and are happy with it (still don't have sconces in there though!!!)

I will post a picture of ours tomorrow when I have some natural daylight in the bath.

This is the picture we copied, but we have less elaborate sconces (linen shades and polished nickel) and we eliminated the pieced part around the bottom - I felt like it was cutting off the bottom of the mirror and suspect these are 12' ceilings instead of 10' to make that work. We did frame it out with a ripped down portion of our door trim and I am very happy with how it turned out. I love a big mirror . . .

[Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Atlanta Architect Bradley E Heppner Architecture, LLC

Maybe too embellished (and incredibly pricey) but a good size:

Here is a link that might be useful: Queen Anne Mirrors at Stenella

This post was edited by KevinMP on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 22:38

KevinMP, those are wonderful mirrors!

Kevin, those are really beautiful! The mirror site I linked some images from has one in a similar style. I'll have to post that this afternoon for opinions.

If I did something pieced like athensmom's photo, and added a sconce in the middle, would that be aesthetically appropriate for my room?

Thanks for the great ideas!

I think you have plenty of room for single sconces on the outside and a double on the inside. We are doing the same thing with sconces mounted on top of a full width mirror. We have 7 ft of vanity after we put wall cabinets on each end of our 10 ft vanity. I think it will look appropriate from a period perspective because the mirror would not be making a statement, just reflecting the remainder of the room. That said, the sconce choice is very important. Sorry I don't have pics to share yet, our base cabinets have been installed, but nothing else. The electrician knew placement would be tricky, so the wire is hanging our behind the wall waiting to be pulled to the correct places. Good luck!

This post was edited by Momto3kiddos on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 22:47

We are doing something similar with a vanity 84". We'll have a 3x5' mirror, a sconce with 60W on each end, a light bar with 4-60W bulbs above the mirror and a couple ceiling recessed lights above each sink. 17 x 15 sinks, so they are not as wide as yours.

Should you choose a simple rectangle, you can get a mirror made to size from a glass company, they even do beveled edges...and just put decorative framing around it.

We currently have a wall to wall mirror, and when we taped it off and covered parts with newspaper to see what we'd have with 2 separate mirrors, they looked really cool design-wise but we discovered that we couldn't "talk" to each other in the mirror (does that make sense?).

I also have selected a wall mounted lighted make-up mirror. (old eyes need more light)

It all depends on how you use that room. You can make the most beautiful space in the world, (and it looks like you are doing that) but it needs to work for you too.

-Babka

We are doing something similar with a vanity 84". We'll have a 3x5' mirror, a sconce with 60W on each end, a light bar with 4-60W bulbs above the mirror and a couple ceiling recessed lights above each sink. 17 x 15 sinks, so they are not as wide as yours.

Should you choose a simple rectangle, you can get a mirror made to size from a glass company, they even do beveled edges...and just put decorative framing around it.

We currently have a wall to wall mirror, and when we taped it off and covered parts with newspaper to see what we'd have with 2 separate mirrors, they looked really cool design-wise but we discovered that we couldn't "talk" to each other in the mirror (does that make sense?).

I also have selected a wall mounted lighted make-up mirror. (old eyes need more light)

It all depends on how you use that room. You can make the most beautiful space in the world, (and it looks like you are doing that) but it needs to work for you too.

-Babka

Mom to 3 kids: which do you think would be more appropriate for me, the two mirrors or one large one? Sorry, I'm getting confused. I'll have to keep searching for sconces that will work with our overhead fixture and measure on the wall to see how they will fit.

Babka: old eyes aren't the only ones that need magnification mirrors and more light! I do get the "talking to each other" thing. Right now my husband and I share a 2 ft wide vanity with a small mirror above it, and have done so for 8 years. It's amazing what you get used to. This double vanity in the new house will feel enormous for us even though it's not considered incredibly large by some standards.

I am almost decided on doing a wall- to-wall mirror and two Visual Comfort Grosvenor sconces on the sides with a double version of that sconce in the middle. I plan to do a beveled edge mirror and am wondering whether I should do a marble backsplash and/or a thin wooden white-painted frame around the mirror. I made a light sketch for reference. Any thoughts?

Hi apples,

I think you're going with the perfect solution! Yes, do a backsplash, and yes, have the contractor do a simple white frame around the mirror.

I also debated the backsplash thing and looked at SO MANY PHOTOS. My other baths have ceramic tile walls, so I didn't have to decide for those. I ended up doing a "notch" on the corners of the marble backsplash to keep it from looking too chunky/slapped on. It is also thinner material. (1cm?) It is looking nice and I don't regret it.

There were a few key inspirational photos that you have probably seen, too, but I will hunt them down.

Darned cute backsplash! IMO, mirrors are way too far apart, though....

[Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Palo Alto Architect Melinda Mandell

I definitely agree on those mirrors being too far apart and the mirrors look way too skinny.

Thanks for the pic.

Hi threeapples...I'm have the same issue, little distance between mirror and wall....can you tell me what you ended up doing or post a photo? I have either 6 or 8 inches between the mirror and the side wall....so if I have a sconce that is 4.5 wide, I have a REALLY small space to work with. Any advice you have is appreciated. :)

Would those mirrors above, work better with a double or triple sconce in the middle rather than the singles on the inside. And keep the outside singles.

I need advice on mirror placement in a make up area with wall sconces 23 inches apart and side to side width of wall 43 and 3/4 inches. I would appreciate any and all recommendations. Thank you

I recommend that you post your own thread for your topic.

Hi @goredr, I meant start a new thread where your post was the opening statement. But, I like your picture. It helps very much to describe what you are asking. If you still care to begin your own thread, you just enter it at the top and add the picture along with it. You give the tread a title. Your Title could be something like "advice needed for mirror placement in makeup/vanity area". Or something shorter. I think you will get more feedback with your own post because it will be new. This thread is old and may be ignored.

I think a lovely mirror of your choosing would look special and personal to you, between the sconces. It could be a long oval, a rectangle, with or without frame. I think a bevel would be a nice touch, especially with a frameless mirror.

Since that is a makeup area, what other lighting will you have? I feel that the lighting you have now, may not be bright enough.

Start your own, separate thread E jacobs. You'll get more responses - many people don't even look at these old revived threads.